What is a lipofilling?

During a lipofilling, fat is removed in areas where it is excessive.
The removal of the adipose tissue is performed atraumatically by a micro-incision hidden in natural folds, with a very thin suction cannula.
Then the fat cells are "purified" and re-injected into the dermis under wrinkles, or in the subcutaneous tissue to restore volume.
It is therefore a natural process using the person's own fat, which prevents rejection or adverse reaction.
Current purification methods allow survival of almost all the injected fat cells and therefore predictable and sustainable results.
The disadvantage is the time required for collecting and purifying the fat.

Why consider lipofilling?

Facial lipofillings are performed in numerous ways:

The blunting of facial rhytides
The restoration of the "fullness" of a gaunt face or in the early stages of facial aging
Restoring volumes and shapes of the face: it may include the restoration of a face emaciated by aging.

Lipofilling is almost always used in addition to facelifts to correct the loss of fat volumes of the face that is the norm, except in the faces of people who are notably overweight.

It is used on many areas of the face, because there is a uniform reduction of facial volume in facial aging.

The consultation

During the consultation, the surgeon establishes with his patient the desired aesthetic benefit, the limits of the technique in terms of volume gain, benefits, drawbacks and counter-indications.
Careful study and clinical photography are performed.
Then the donor sites of the fat will be harvested, and the recipient sites.

What happens during a lipofilling?

This surgery is performed as an outpatient.
The duration of the operation depends on the amount of fat to inject and the number of locations to be treated. It can vary from 30 minutes to 2 hours in case of isolated lipostructure.
Lipostructure is usually performed under local anesthesia potentiated by tranquilizers administered intravenously. One can also use a local anesthesia or general anesthesia. The choice between these different techniques will result from a discussion between you, the surgeon and the anesthetist.

The effects of a a lipofilling

The effects of the operation are generally not painful, but marked by significant swelling and bruising for 1 to 3 weeks.
Thus, if physical recovery is usually fast due to the light and superficial nature of the intervention, it will be necessary to consider the social effects because it can risk swelling and bruising.
The areas treated should not be exposed to sunlight or UV for at least 4 weeks, which would imply the risk of permanent pigmentation.

The risks of a lipofilling

In some cases, localized imperfections can be observed (without any real complications): insufficient correction, slight asymmetry, irregularity.
On the contrary, sometimes there may be an overcorrection.

These localized imperfections are generally accessible to correction or further treatment under local anesthesia.

The scars of a lipofilling

This fat transfer technique leaves virtually no scars.

When collecting fat tissue small incisions hidden in the natural folds are made using a thin suction cannula.
The transfer of the fat tissue is done from incisions of 1 to 2 mm by using micro-cannulas.

After a lipofilling

The end result can be seen about 3 months after the operation, when the edema has disappeared.

Information Sheet SoFCPRE (Société Française de Chirurgie Plastique Reconstructrice et Esthétique)

Last update of this page : 06-06-2019

4.8/5 - (19 votes)

Lipofillings